Overcome Pride: Help for Humility
As Christians, we know that God loves humility and hates pride. We know we shouldn’t be proud, and yet we catch ourselves with proud thoughts sometimes. When this happens, it helps me to focus on certain truths that I can stand on, to stop pride in its tracks.
1. For good choices
A. Remember “Of course”
Romans 12:1 calls it reasonable service to be a living sacrifice to God; it’s expected! “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Of course we’re going to serve God, and we are simply doing what we should be doing.
1 Corinthians 6:19 - “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”
Of course, we serve God because we belong to Him.
Living right is living a worthwhile life. It is fulfilling in a way that sin cannot fulfill. Therefore, there is nothing to glory in, because we are simply choosing what is most worthwhile.
We live for God’s will, a will that is higher than our own. What can be more worthwhile than that? It’s good enough to know that our lives have meaning through Him. What profit is there in being admired by people? We can simply enjoy being in God’s will. When we receive compliments or admiration from people, we can remember that there is nothing to be proud of, because we are simply doing what we’re made for, and life would be empty without a higher purpose (God’s will).
We live to rescue souls eternally, and to rescue needy people. That gives us a lot of purpose and depth to life, without any need for pride. Why do I do what I do? Because I like it. That is nothing to be proud of. It’s the way we are made, to need a relationship with God and to need a higher purpose to live for.
We also make good choices because we care about ourselves, and that is nothing special. Proverbs 9:12 says, “If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself.” It’s simply natural and neutral. Should I be proud because I’m not doing drugs? Of course I’m not going to do drugs, because I don’t want to harm myself. There is nothing to proud of.
B. Remember that God works in us.
We are His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10). He gives us right desires (Philippians 2:13)
He is the one working in us (Ephesians 3:20).
C. Think of the path you would be on if God had not saved you.
We never know what we might have become if we had been raised in different circumstances (whether better or worse) and if we had never heard the gospel. When you hear of criminals committing horrible and heartless crimes, realize you could have been that way.
In reality, we are all in the same boat, even though we haven’t all committed the same sins. We were all on the “broad path” to destruction.
Romans 3:12 says, “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Verse 19 continues, “that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”
2. For knowledge & skills
A. God is the source
1 Corinthians 4:7 makes a good point: What do you have that you were not given?
Psalm 100:3 says it is He that has made us and not we ourselves.
2 Corinthians 4:7 says that we are VESSELS, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of ourselves.
B. Think of other people’s skills
Remember all the people who have the same skills.
Think of music, for example. Singing is too easily considered a “talent,” because so many people know how to sing well. When you look online for singing lessons and see millions of views, it’s because millions of people are learning (and have learned) to sing well. And many have gone to real in-person lessons.
Playing instruments is also fairly common. Of the people I’ve known, about 1 in 4 can play the piano decently enough to accompany a church service, and many others play guitar or other instruments.
On top of that, about 99% of people are capable of learning music, but most choose other jobs or hobbies or ministries. The best way to think of it is that most people have the capacity to develop musical skill, but not everyone has the interest or the calling to have a musical career or ministry.
C. Realize the emptiness
Philippians 2:3 says, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”
The word “vainglory” has a root that means “empty.” Glorying in ourselves is empty.
Galatians 6:14 says, "For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself."
And verse 14: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."
While glorifying ourselves is empty, there is value in glorifying God.
“Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24)
D. Use your knowledge and skills for love
“Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.” (1 Corinthians 8:1b)
While knowledge itself is stagnant without purpose, we do find value in loving others. And whatever your skills are, find a way to use them for love.
3. For Wealth
A. Realize that wealth is temporary.
Wealth is temporary because of the shortness of life, and because God is able to take it away at any time.
“Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.” (James 1:9-11)
“Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” (James 4:13-14)
B. Realize that the purpose of wealth is to lay up treasures in heaven through giving.
“Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” (1 Timothy 6:17-19)